Myskina, Mirza Headline WTA Kolkata

Last year's French Open winner Anastasia Myskina and headline-maker Sania Mirza lead this week's Sunfeast Open, the WTA stop in Kolkata.

Myskina is fresh off Russia's Fed Cup victory, while Mirza has been producing headlines worldwide with Muslim clerics demanding she wear more than the traditional tennis garb.

Also seeded in Kolkata are Russia's Elena Likhovtseva, Italians Maria Elena Camerin and Antonella Serra "Neveda" Zanetti, Spain's Laura Pous Tio, Croat Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, and Japan's Rika Fujiwara.

Mirza, who has drawn the perhaps politically-incorrect nickname "The Hot Dot" for her penchant for Western-style tight tops covering her ample, err, womanhood, nose piercing and tight short-shorts on the practice court, has come under fire from fringe-group clerics in India who say cover that stuff up.

"She will be stopped from playing if she doesn't adhere to the Islamic dress code," threatened Siddiqullah Chowdhary of Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Hind.

While the No. 3-seeded Mirza continues her drive toward a Top 20 ranking, the top-seeded Myskina will look to halt her slide that has taken her out of the Top 10, and earn her first title of the year at Kolata.

The seeds should not have too difficult a time in the early goings as virtually all unseeded players are ranked outside the Top 100 on the WTA rankings.

Kolkata is a new event on the WTA calendar for 2005.